Syria says Iraq evading responsibility to refugees

DAMASCUS, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The Syrian
government accused Iraq on Monday of letting down its citizens by failing
to help hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees in Syria.

"We find it strange that the Iraqi
government is not doing its duty and is exercising every method to shy
away from taking responsibility toward its nationals," Deputy Foreign
Minister Fayssal al-Mekdad said.

"I am ashamed to discuss Iraqi support
(for the refugees). We told the Iraqi government that these nationals are
Iraqi and they are suffering real, not imaginary hardship," Mekdad
said after attending an international conference in the Syrian capital
on the refugees.

An estimated 1.5 million Iraqis fled
Iraq after the 2003 U.S. led-invasion led to turmoil and sectarian conflict
in their homeland. Most went to Syria, which received them despite its
difficult relations with Iraq.

Iraq has invited refugees back, but offered
only a few million of the $750 million pledged by governments worldwide
last year to help the refugees. More than $350 million came from the United
States.

Only 50,000 refugees have returned to
Iraq, according to the the United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees.

Political distrust between Iraqi Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who had spent years in exile in Syria, and Syria's
ruling apparatus has helped make Maliki wary of releasing funds to aid
refugees in Syria.

Ties between the two countries worsened
last year after Baghdad accused Damascus of complicity in bomb attacks
that killed more than 200 people in Baghdad. Syria refused to hand over
suspects in several of the bombings, saying the evidence Iraq had against
them was not strong enough.

Mekdad, a key figure in Syrian foreign
policy, made it clear that he did not expect an improvement in relations
between Damascus and Baghdad unless the Iraqi elections on March 7 brought
in a government more friendly to Syria.

He said the refugee issue should not
be a political casualty of the state of relations between Iraq and Syria.

"Syria always said it was with the
Iraqi people against terrorism, against bombing, killing and destruction,
but the Iraqi government has to take its responsibility and not blame others,"
Mekdad said.

"We have provided every opportunity
for the Iraqi government to support its citizen refugees ... and not put
the burden on Syria and international organisations, he said. "Syria
is already suffering from drought and other problems." (Editing by
Andrew Roche)

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